In Brief: New York Fed Names Director of Research

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has named Christine M. Cumming executive vice president and director of research.

Ms. Cumming, who will assume the post in early September, is a 20-year veteran of the bank. She will manage the research and market analysis group, which has 280 employees.

She is currently senior vice president in the bank supervision group, where she has overseen advisory and technical services and bank analysis since 1993. Ms. Cumming has also worked on credit and risk management issues that come before the banking supervision committee of the Bank for International Settlements. She succeeds Stephen G. Cecchetti, who is leaving the New York Fed in September after two years to return to Ohio State University.

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The increasing adoption of virtual card payments by accounts payable departments has created an unex­pected complication for suppliers: more friction in the processing, posting and reconciliation of payments and receivables. The root of the problem is that most suppliers rely on a manual approach to processing e-mailed virtual card payments. Suppliers are forced to balance their organization’s need for operational efficiency and control with rising customer demand to pay with a virtual card. But a new breed of tech­nology enables suppliers to process virtual card payments straight-through, addressing the needs of buyers and suppliers. This paper details the growth of electronic business-to-business (B2B) payments, shows how manual approaches to processing virtual card payments cause friction in accounts receivables, describes a way to process virtual card payments straight-through, and highlights the benefits of friction­less payments.